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Calls to cut speed limit on Chard-Ilminster road

A YOUNG woman who “miraculously” survived after she was hit by a car while walking her horse is calling for the speed limit to be cut where it happened.

Kirsty Hopkins, 22, was seriously injured after a car hit her and the shire horse she was leading along Watery Lane in Sea, near Ilminster, in September last year.

The incident left Kirsty with a broken shin, a crushed ankle, breaks to her pelvis and shoulder, and cuts to her face.

Now she is calling for the road, which currently carries the national speed limit of 60mph, to be reduced to 40mph before someone else is hurt or even killed.

Kirsty, who has lived at Dowlish Ford for six years, said: “It was horrendous – I can’t walk on that road now and my horse is terrified of traffic.

“You hear cars and motorbikes driving so fast, and I’m just waiting for the day when instead of hearing the screech of brakes you just hear a smash.”

Kirsty said there are a number of people who ride their horses along the road, including young children, and she fears that unless the speed limit is reduced a tragedy could be on the cards.

She said: “There’s no need for people to drive that fast, and when people hit the sharp bends they don’t have time to stop.”

Kirsty’s friend, Chopper, was first on the scene after the crash and said it was a miracle she was not killed.

He said: “There definitely needs to be a lower speed limit and some mobile speed cameras.

“We’ve only been here one year, but the speed some of the traffic goes down there you can hear their brakes screech.

“The number of times people come down the road speeding, someone’s going to get killed.”

The pair say they have contacted Somerset County Council and the police to apply for a reduction in the speed limit, but so far without any luck.

A county council spokesman said: “Somerset Road Safety isn’t aware of any issues at this location.

“When requests are received to consider a change in speed limits, road safety officers will carry out an in-depth investigation of the area, which will include examining collision data, obtaining a speed profile of the location, and then formal discussion with both the engineering and traffic management teams to see if action should be taken.”

Comments

MrAngryOfChard
11:23am Fri 2 May 14

I thought the council had already put traffic calming measures in place on the A358. Oh no, sorry, they are just potholes getting worse by the day. I did contact the council but unfortunately as I was unable to give them the postcode (!), they were unable to react !!!.

I thought the council had already put traffic calming measures in place on the A358. Oh no, sorry, they are just potholes getting worse by the day. I did contact the council but unfortunately as I was unable to give them the postcode (!), they were unable to react !!!.MrAngryOfChard

I thought the council had already put traffic calming measures in place on the A358. Oh no, sorry, they are just potholes getting worse by the day. I did contact the council but unfortunately as I was unable to give them the postcode (!), they were unable to react !!!.

Score: -6

David Pincombe
11:25am Fri 2 May 14

Surely one day it will be realised that it is dangerous for horses to be exercised on main roads, and surely young children should never be allowed to ride a horse on ANY highway.
The law of the land should treat horses as vehicles, though we also know that a car can be controlled much better than a horse.
When will common sense and logic take the place of red tape???.

Surely one day it will be realised that it is dangerous for horses to be exercised on main roads, and surely young children should never be allowed to ride a horse on ANY highway.
The law of the land should treat horses as vehicles, though we also know that a car can be controlled much better than a horse.
When will common sense and logic take the place of red tape???.David Pincombe

Surely one day it will be realised that it is dangerous for horses to be exercised on main roads, and surely young children should never be allowed to ride a horse on ANY highway.
The law of the land should treat horses as vehicles, though we also know that a car can be controlled much better than a horse.
When will common sense and logic take the place of red tape???.

Score: 11

minsterman2
4:05pm Fri 2 May 14

Kirtsy Hopkin aint this the same girl who walk free from court for putting a woman in a wheel chair due to smashing in her car Drunk and High on Drugs!!! ?

Kirtsy Hopkin aint this the same girl who walk free from court for putting a woman in a wheel chair due to smashing in her car Drunk and High on Drugs!!! ?
http://www.westernga
zette.co.uk/Crash-vi
ctim-relieved-driver
-pleads-guilty/story
-20453305-detail/sto
ry.html#ixzz30Z3rBhp
Cminsterman2

Kirtsy Hopkin aint this the same girl who walk free from court for putting a woman in a wheel chair due to smashing in her car Drunk and High on Drugs!!! ?

Watery Lane isn't the A358 Chard to Ilminster road.
Watery Lane is little more than a track, which is impassable after anything more than a heavy shower.
People (and horses) are far more at risk from smack-heads, crack-heads, dope heads and p155 heads, than they are from sober drivers maintaining the national speed limit on the A358

Watery Lane isn't the A358 Chard to Ilminster road.
Watery Lane is little more than a track, which is impassable after anything more than a heavy shower.
People (and horses) are far more at risk from smack-heads, crack-heads, dope heads and p155 heads, than they are from sober drivers maintaining the national speed limit on the A358Dick Turpin Works For Council

Watery Lane isn't the A358 Chard to Ilminster road.
Watery Lane is little more than a track, which is impassable after anything more than a heavy shower.
People (and horses) are far more at risk from smack-heads, crack-heads, dope heads and p155 heads, than they are from sober drivers maintaining the national speed limit on the A358

Score: 8

regularreader
11:22pm Fri 2 May 14

Imposing a speed limit will only affect the law-abiding drivers. The others will ignore speed limits as usual. This can be seen any time through the centre of Ilminster where the limit is 20mph and some vehicles are driven through Silver Street at well above that limit. The only way to slow these people down is to install traffic calming measures. Not likely to be a popular view, but whenever a new (lower) limit is introduced it is because some petrol-heads think the limits are a minimum rather than a maximum.

Imposing a speed limit will only affect the law-abiding drivers. The others will ignore speed limits as usual. This can be seen any time through the centre of Ilminster where the limit is 20mph and some vehicles are driven through Silver Street at well above that limit. The only way to slow these people down is to install traffic calming measures. Not likely to be a popular view, but whenever a new (lower) limit is introduced it is because some petrol-heads think the limits are a minimum rather than a maximum.regularreader

Imposing a speed limit will only affect the law-abiding drivers. The others will ignore speed limits as usual. This can be seen any time through the centre of Ilminster where the limit is 20mph and some vehicles are driven through Silver Street at well above that limit. The only way to slow these people down is to install traffic calming measures. Not likely to be a popular view, but whenever a new (lower) limit is introduced it is because some petrol-heads think the limits are a minimum rather than a maximum.

Score: 2

somersetgal
9:41pm Sun 4 May 14

Im sorry but this is highly hypocritical coming from her after what she did.

Im sorry but this is highly hypocritical coming from her after what she did.somersetgal

Im sorry but this is highly hypocritical coming from her after what she did.

Score: 19

minsterman2
12:13am Mon 5 May 14

somersetgal wrote…

Im sorry but this is highly hypocritical coming from her after what she did.

You are so so right its disgusting the chard and Ilminster gave her the time of day on this subject matter , I am surprised she had the balls to even go to the paper oh maybe she totally forgot about causing a serious accident high on drugs and Drunk you would have thought she would have kept her head down not put her self in the local paper winging look at me the poor victim her story was an accident but what she did was illegal , Vile and disgraceful act and only for the grace of god she did not kill anyone! . Well at least she is Banned from driving for 8 years and rightly so!

[quote][p][bold]somersetgal[/bold] wrote:
Im sorry but this is highly hypocritical coming from her after what she did.[/p][/quote]You are so so right its disgusting the chard and Ilminster gave her the time of day on this subject matter , I am surprised she had the balls to even go to the paper oh maybe she totally forgot about causing a serious accident high on drugs and Drunk you would have thought she would have kept her head down not put her self in the local paper winging look at me the poor victim her story was an accident but what she did was illegal , Vile and disgraceful act and only for the grace of god she did not kill anyone! . Well at least she is Banned from driving for 8 years and rightly so!minsterman2

somersetgal wrote…

Im sorry but this is highly hypocritical coming from her after what she did.

You are so so right its disgusting the chard and Ilminster gave her the time of day on this subject matter , I am surprised she had the balls to even go to the paper oh maybe she totally forgot about causing a serious accident high on drugs and Drunk you would have thought she would have kept her head down not put her self in the local paper winging look at me the poor victim her story was an accident but what she did was illegal , Vile and disgraceful act and only for the grace of god she did not kill anyone! . Well at least she is Banned from driving for 8 years and rightly so!

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